Shock as Singapore policeman arrested for double murder

Senior Staff Sergeant Iskandar Rahmat, 34, was nabbed in Johor Baru on Friday night for the murders of motor workshop owner Tan Boon Sin, 67, and his son, Tan Chee Heong, 42.

A 14-year veteran of the force and a member of the Bedok Police Division, he was facing financial difficulties and disciplinary proceedings. Checks showed the married man was declared bankrupt last Thursday, a day after the murders.

His relationship to the victims is not yet clear, but he met the older Tan at least once, when the latter reported a theft from a safe deposit box last year. Iskandar was brought back to Singapore yesterday as Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and Police Commissioner Ng Joo Hee broke the news of his identity at a sombre press conference. “I cannot remember the last time a murder suspect was also a police officer,” a grim-faced Ng told reporters. “You may have seen this kind of thing depicted in the movies and on TV, but when it happens for real, it hits you like a freight train.” DPM Teo, who is Home Affairs Minister, said if Iskandar is proven guilty, his crime would have tarnished the reputation of the police, but nobody was above the law.

Saturday’s revelation of the murder suspect sent ripples across Singapore as former police officers, MPs and netizens expressed shock that a police officer had been arrested for murder.

The drama began last Wednesday afternoon, when horrified eyewitnesses saw the younger Tan being dragged for a kilometre under a car at Upper Serangoon Road.

He had slash wounds to the neck, as did his father, who was later found dead in their family home at nearby Hillside Drive.

The blood-stained car belonging to the Tans was found the next day at Eunos, but by then, Iskandar had left for Johor on a scooter.

By then too, the police knew they were hunting one of their own, but Teo said they kept the details secret so as not to compromise inquiry.

They worked closely with the Malaysian police, who picked up Iskandar at 11.30pm on Friday outside a seafood restaurant at Danga Bay. He was taken to the Police Cantonment Complex yesterday before being taken to the scene of the crime for a re-enactment. 

At the same time, police officers descended on Iskandar's three-room flat in Kim Keat Avenue. His family were interviewed by police investigators for about three hours, but would not speak to reporters. Checks showed that Iskandar was made a bankrupt last Thursday over S$62,000 (US$49,000) owed to a bank.

Police said he had been removed from investigative duties earlier because he had failed to declare his debt. He was moved to administrative work and barred from carrying firearms.

While the motive for the killings is still unclear, one key detail emerged yesterday: Iskandar was the investigating officer when the elder Tan reported a theft from his safe deposit box last November.